VERY SPECIFIC FOOTBALL QUESTION NO.10: What would Brendan Rodgers be doing today if Steven Gerrard hadn’t fallen over?

Sunday 27 April 2014, 2.52pm. Liverpool v Chelsea at Anfield. Steven Gerrard receives a pass from Mamadou Sakho just inside his own half. He controls it, shields the ball from Demba Ba and squares it to Martin Skertl. Moments later, the half-time whistle blows.

Liverpool continue to probe in the second half, but they can’t break through Chelsea’s stubborn defence. The match finishes goalless, and at full-time Gerrard gathers his team-mates in a huddle and says he wants them to “go again” next week. Eight days later, Luis Suarez helps the Reds to a 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace. Then, at an emotionally charged Anfield, Brendan Rodgers’ side beat Newcastle 2-1 to secure their first league championship for 24 years.

Gerrard is in tears, Suarez gets a kiss on the lips from Alan Hansen and Glen Johnson does a hilarious breakdancing routine that goes down in Liverpool folklore. But the biggest cheer of the day is reserved for Rodgers, who in just two years has transformed the Reds from also-rans to the best team in England, with a brand of attractive, attacking football befitting the club’s traditions.

It’s a crazy summer for Rodgers. He is given the freedom of the city of Liverpool, he comes third in a ‘Northern Ireland’s hottest man’ poll in Cosmopolitan magazine and Paul McCartney rewrites the famous Beatles song Yesterday in his honour, adapting the lyrics and changing the title to ‘Rodgers Yay!’. It goes to number one in the charts.

Suarez gets injured shortly before the World Cup starts. Medics give him a 15 per cent chance of being fit for the finals so he opts to spend the summer chilling out and cuddling the Premier League trophy. Uruguay are beaten by Costa Rica and then by England, who lose to Greece on penalties in the last 16.

Rodgers makes Southampton’s Dejan Lovren his marquee summer signing, but an injury to Daniel Sturridge disrupts the Reds’ start to the season. Chelsea dominate the Premier League and it soon becomes clear that Liverpool will not repeat their title success, much to the frustration of the fans. The brilliance of Suarez keeps them on course for a top-four place, but disaster strikes in the FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa when the Uruguayan bites off one of Charles N'Zogbia’s ears and is suspended for four months. The 10-man Reds go out of the cup and lose their remaining six games of the season, being pipped to fourth place by Man Utd. Mark Lawrenson says on Football Focus that this would never have happened to the champions under Kenny Dalglish, who generously donates one of his ears to N'Zogbia on behalf of the city of Liverpool.

That summer the disgraced Suarez is sold to Barcelona for £55m, prompting an unhappy Raheem Sterling to force a move to Manchester City. Rodgers uses his £100m-plus transfer kitty to sign Christian Benteke, Danny Ings, Roberto Firmino, Nathaniel Clyne, Lazar Markovic and Southampton player of the year Adam Lallana. In Cosmopolitan’s annual ‘Northern Ireland’s hottest man’ poll, Rodgers drops to 7th, one place below Dennis Taylor.

The season starts badly with Rodgers’ new signings failing to gel, and a home defeat to West Ham prompts the first murmurs of unrest in the stands. Mark Lawrenson says on Football Focus that Markovic is not as good as Suarez, and after scraping through the league cup third round against Carlisle and drawing with Sion in the Europa League, Fenway Sports Group decide to sack Rodgers. They replace him with Manuel Pellegrini, who has been out of work for a year since Manchester City sacked him over his failure to win the 2014/15 league title.

Wednesday 7 October, 2015. Rodgers puts his Premier League winner’s medal around his neck, makes himself comfortable on the sofa, switches on the TV and is pleasantly surprised to find that Bergerac is back on the box. “Thank Christ I’ve got you,” he whispers huskily to the medal while stroking it. “Otherwise that would have been a complete waste of time.”

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